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Macbook Air and Photoshop

R

RobbieS

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 28, 2008
30
0
I currently have a white macbook. 2Ghz, 4 GB memory/250 hard drive upgrade. I like the laptop, but I am ready for a new one. I tend to use my laptop for web surfing, email, music and the such- not terribly extensive work. However, I have been taking a few courses on photoshop and plan on becoming an "ACE" (adobe certified expert) shortly and pursue a career in graphic design. I have done some researching- and it seems that my best bet is to upgrade to a macbook pro. But I can not find any information on the AIR and photoshop. I would much rather have the air solely based on its design and ultra-portability, and it being the "new thing" but would I be doing myself a disservice purchasing this over the pro. Does the glossy screen make a big color difference? Most of my projects print out very similar to to that of what is on my macbook's screen now. I would be purchasing the lesser 1.6ghz, frankly three grand is out of my price range. Will there be a noticeable decrease in performance from my current laptop?
In short, for what I need it for, mainly photoshop, should I choose to go pro? or will I be happy with the air?
Thanks in advance for any and all help.
 
N

neven

macrumors 6502a
Oct 10, 2006
815
0
Portland, OR
I do almost all my daily work in Photoshop and Illustrator CS3 (I also run text editors and Windows under Fusion).

- Power-wise, I have no problems. I typically work with screen graphics, so 2 GB of memory work well. With bigger images, this might be a limitation.
- Screen-wise, as long as you don't have a lightsource behind you, it's very good. All laptops suffer from angle-dependent color, so I guess it depends on how picky you are.
- The screen size doesn't limit me in daily work.

No one here will believe me, but almost everything I do in Photoshop runs the same on the Air and on my 2.4 GHz iMac. No difference in speed.

If you at all can, sit down and play with one for a while. Walk through a real-life scenario.

Good luck!
 
tersono

tersono

macrumors 68000
Jan 18, 2005
1,999
1
UK
Photoshop runs just fine on the air, but it will be slower than your MB under certain circumstances (especially with very large files).

To be honest, my main reason for recommending a MBP for Photoshop use is simply due to screen size - all of the Adobe Design Suite use a great deal of screen real estate, and the more space you have, the more comfortable it feels....
 
aussieinrome

aussieinrome

macrumors regular
Apr 5, 2008
179
0
Rome, Italy.
Photoshop CS3 runs really well.

I run Photoshop CS3 on my AIR I was working with 5k images yesterday and it quick, really quick, I don't know how much having the SSD drive helps but I guess it must.
 
crobbins

crobbins

macrumors 6502
Nov 11, 2006
289
14
Colorado
I do very basic work with almost every Creative Suite 3 App..I've not really had complaints about Photoshop. It works better than I was originally expecting to be honest with you. That being said, I still wouldn't expect lighting fast.
 
B

brudy

macrumors member
May 23, 2008
46
7
Yeah, I'm also surprised at how well PS runs on my MBA (I had very low expectations). But for me, the screen is too small to use as a daily design machine. I prefer to use my dual 2.5/G5 as my main machine and the MBA as a surfer, light work machine.
 
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